Compiler: Tom Burke, Tony Lauro
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County

Transcriber: Ben Cacace

BEGIN TAPE

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, January 9th 2015 at 6pm. The highlights of today's tape are COUCH'S KINGBIRD, CASSIN'S KINGBIRD, PINK-FOOTED GOOSE, BARNACLE GOOSE, HARLEQUIN DUCK, KING EIDER, BLACK-HEADED GULL, GLAUCOUS GULL, DOVEKIE and BOHEMIAN WAXWING.

There are spaces available on Sunday's pelagic trip out of Freeport if interested call See Life Paulagics at (215) 234-6805 < http://www.paulagics.com/site/ >.

The COUCH'S KINGBIRD, one of Manhattan's most celebrated current residents, continues in lower Manhattan at least through Thursday. Recently it has been most frequently found around and just east of the intersections of West 4th Street and West 11th Street with 4th Street going north/south in that area. As it does move around other locations to check would be Abingdon Square Park at 8th Avenue and Hudson and Bleecker Streets and along Washington Street between Jane and Horatio Streets.

The CASSIN'S KINGBIRD at Floyd Bennett Field was last reported from the community garden on Monday and it may not have fared well during this frigid spell as it had been showing signs of weakening even before this week.

The PINK-FOOTED GOOSE has been fairly consistently visiting the fields on the east side of Doctor's Path north of Reeve's Avenue and south of Sound Avenue since January 1st this north of Riverhead. Among the many Canadas have also been a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED and CACKLING GEESE. The BARNACLE GOOSE continues in the Farmingdale area seen either at St. Charles Cemetery off Wellwood Avenue or on the private Colonial Springs Golf Course just northeast of the cemetery. It has also been noted at the overnight roost at Belmont Lake State Park to the east where the geese, including up to four GREATER WHITE-FRONTEDS and CACKLING, leave fairly early in the morning depending on the conditions usually returning as darkness settles in.

The Southern Nassau Christmas Count last Saturday recorded 133 species highlights including 3 HARLEQUIN DUCKS, a female KING EIDER, a RED-NECKED GREBE, a PECTORAL SANDPIPER, displaying AMERICAN WOODCOCK, a LITTLE BLUE HERON, an immature BLACK-HEADED GULL, 3 RAZORBILLS, 2 NORTHERN GOSHAWKS, BALD EAGLE, EASTERN PHOEBE, 4 MARSH and one HOUSE WREN, 1 LAPLAND LONGSPUR, ORANGE-CROWNED and NASHVILLE WARBLERS at Massapequa Preserve and 2 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS. A SNOWY OWL at Jones Beach West End had been pushed around so much prior to the count that it could not be found count day. Two HARLEQUIN DUCKS and a KING EIDER are usually at the Point Lookout jetties the eider moving around with a flock of Commons. The BLACK-HEADED GULL hanging around Jones Inlet has been seen at the Jones Beach field 10 fishing piers and around the Coast Guard Station at Jones Beach West End.

Another BLACK-HEADED GULL, an adult, has been frequenting Setauket Harbor on Long Island's north shore. Two exciting reports were 4 DOVEKIES moving by Shinnecock Inlet early last Saturday and then a BOHEMIAN WAXWING spotted Thursday with Starlings and Robins in a yard in Miller Place on Long Island's north shore. Consistent with its name a BOHEMIAN could appear almost anywhere but usually doesn't.

Two TUNDRA SWANS were still on Hook Pond in East Hampton last weekend and 4 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE were along Route 114 in East Hampton Sunday these sometimes seen around Hook Pond and a few other WHITE-FRONTS are also in the area. The EURASIAN WIGEON at the Mill Pond in Centerport has this week been joined by a Eurasian form of GREEN-WINGED TEAL. Among the several EURASIAN WIGEON present recently have been males off the Tottenville Train Station on Staten Island, at Bush Terminal Piers Park in Brooklyn, at Saint John's Pond in Cold Spring Harbor, at Mill Pond in Bellmore, on Patchogue Lake and two at the West Sayville Golf Course. Two RED-NECKED GREBES and 2 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were around Coney Island Creek in Brooklyn recently, the GLAUCOUS GULL remains at Shinnecock Inlet. There have been at least six reports of EASTERN PHOEBES since last weekend and a few ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS are also still being found while VESPER and LINCOLN'S SPARROWS were spotted at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island Saturday.

To phone in reports on Long Island, call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126 or weekdays call Tom Burke at (212) 372-1483.

This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York and the National Audubon Society. Thank you for calling.